Strange Boys, Bad Sports Don't Leave Town and Play Beerland in Austin Friday

Tonight in Austin, Texas the young, weird and local act, The Strange Boys are headlining a show at the illustriously boozy, Beerland with Bad Sports, John Schooley and Cause for Applause. As far as nights out go, this one should stand out as one of those not to be missed. The Strange Boys are great. Playing a sound that conjures every cool form of rock'n'roll over the past five decades, these four dudes, barely old enough to buy their own beer, are cleverly smashing blues ethos into punk detachment and psychedelic psyche, and coming up with some excellently weird shit. Front guy/vocalist, Ryan Sambol's voice sounds as though it were Jim Henson's interpretation of Sky Saxon and proves that a tussled soul doesn't necessarily have to sound like Eric Burdon or Jay Reatard. In The Red Records, who have just released the first single of the Strange Boys on their label, have plans for another one out by the year's end and their debut full-length LP, produced by Jay Reatard, should be out by the beginning of 2009.

Supporting act, Bad Sports feature TV's Daniel of Wax Museums, but where the Wax Museums play charming, fumbling buffoonery, Bad Sports pick up more pop-angled aggression. Their sound seethes to the point where the guitar hooks boil over, the refrains are animalistic and the mood is trenched in years of b-team anxiety. They just released they follow-up single on Big Action records and oddly enough, you can still pick up a copy here.

The always excellent John Schooley's One Man Band open, along with the odd post-punk cooing of Cause for Applause.